Apparatuses, systems and methods for tilling agricultural fields are very well known in the art. Apparatuses typically comprise a cultivator frame having multiple and various tilling attachments attached thereto, laid out on the frame in a variety of patterns to maximize the desired tilling effect. The apparatus is dragged behind a vehicle during the tilling operation.
In general, a single apparatus is equipped to perform either primary or secondary tillage. Primary tillage implements displace and shatter soil to reduce soil strength and to bury or mix plant materials, pesticides, and fertilizers in the tillage layer. Primary tillage is more aggressive, deeper, and leaves a rougher soil surface relative to secondary tillage. Secondary tillage implements till the soil to a shallower depth than primary tillage implements, provide additional pulverization, mix pesticides and fertilizers into the soil, level and firm the soil, close air pockets, and eradicate weeds. Seedbed preparation is the final secondary tillage operation. Primary tillage tools are sometimes used together in the same implement to produce different effects. Likewise, secondary tillage tools are sometimes used together in the same implement to produce different effects.
In particular, conservation tillage, or vertical tillage as it is sometimes called, is a form of secondary tillage that has recently become a tilling strategy of choice in many instances. Conservation tillage minimally disturbs the soil prior to planting in order to allow air to penetrate the mat of crop residue left in the field from the previous harvest. Apparatuses, systems and methods for conservation tillage are known in the art, for example United States patents U.S. Pat. No. 7,762,345 issued Jul. 27, 2010, U.S. Pat. No. 8,113,295 issued Feb. 14, 2012, U.S. Pat. No. 8,196,672 issue Jun. 12, 2012, U.S. Pat. No. 8,307,908 issued Nov. 13, 2012 and U.S. Pat. No. 8,307,909 issued Nov. 13, 2012, the entire contents of all of which are herein incorporated by reference.
However, it is sometimes useful or necessary to perform primary tillage on a field prior to conservation tillage and seed bed preparation. For example, in fields with low lying areas or poor drainage, water accumulation may pack and roughen the soil creating hard uneven sections in certain areas of the field. Because these sections are often localized in certain areas, it is inefficient to bring in a primary tillage apparatus just to loosen these sections before performing conservation tillage and seed bed preparation on the field as a whole.
Thus, there is a need for a more efficient way to perform primary tillage operations during or instead of secondary (e.g. conservation) tillage or seed bed preparation operations.